Green Bay - It was just Green Bay's eighth offensive play in what would become the most forgettable of days.

Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers eluded the New York Giants pass rush and danced to his right. Rodgers had wideout Greg Jennings all alone at the Giants' 5-yard line for what would have been a sure touchdown. Instead, Rodgers fired high and the Packers settled for a field goal.

Call it a bad omen.

Rodgers, the front-runner for most valuable player in the NFL, picked the wrong time to have his worst game of 2011. Instead, he was tentative, inaccurate and ineffective.

While many were to blame for Green Bay's 37-20 loss to the Giants in the NFC divisional playoffs, Rodgers was certainly near the top of the list.

"We got beat by a team that played better tonight," Rodgers said. "That's the reality of this league.

"It's tough. Didn't think it was going to end tonight, felt good about our chances, felt good about our team. Personally, I didn't play as well as I wanted to."

Rodgers has been so good for the past year-and-a-half that he's almost taken for granted these days. On Sunday, though, Packer Nation witnessed the type of mediocre quarterbacking that much of the league lives with each week.

Rodgers completed 56.5% of his 46 passes and his passer rating of 78.5 was his lowest in a full game since Oct. 31, 2010. The Giants played mostly man coverage with two deep safeties, and when Rodgers refused to take chances, New York's pass rushers sacked him four times.

The most galling sack came with 13 minutes left in the game, when Packer coach Mike McCarthy made the curious decision to go for it on a fourth-and-5 play from the Giants' 45-yard line.

The Giants rushed five, while the Packers protected with six and sent four receivers out. Giants linebacker Michael Boley, the extra rusher, came off the right edge and got a clean release when tackle Bryan Bulaga blocked down.

That left Boley one-on-one with running back Brandon Saine. Boley looped all the way around Saine, came back to the inside and dropped Rodgers from behind.

The play took 3.9 seconds, plenty of time for Rodgers to choose one of his targets. Instead, he ate the ball and left his team with no chance to convert the first down.

Ten plays later, the Giants had a 23-13 lead and the Packers were finished.

"Did we rattle him? Maybe a little bit," said Giants cornerback Aaron Ross, whose team lost to the Packers, 38-35, on Dec. 4. "I just think we did a good job locking onto the receivers and taking away some places he wanted to go."

Even when Rodgers had clean looks, he made some scattershot throws.

One play before that fateful sack, Rodgers had Jermichael Finley wide open for a 15-yard gain on third and 5. But Rodgers led Finley too far, and when the tight end fully extended, the ball went off his fingertips.

"It was just, it was out in front of me. It was far out in front of me," Finley said. "As you saw, I put one hand out, tried to get it, but I've got to catch the ball."

After that play, Rodgers was extremely animated, yelling at no one in particular. It appeared that Finley ran hard through his route and Rodgers simply missed him.

"I missed my spot maybe a little bit," Rodgers said. "But I'll have to go back and look at the film and see what happened."

Added Finley: "I was still running through the ball. It was one of those plays I couldn't make. There was too much on it, and it was out there a little.

"The fans think it was me, probably. It was just one of those things. If you're looking on the outside, you probably think I dropped the ball. I'm just letting you know."

Unofficially, the Packers had eight drops in the game, which made it tough for Rodgers to get in sync. Green Bay also had four turnovers, its most since Oct. 3, 2010 - a span of 32 games.

But the erratic quarterbacking play had to be the biggest shock in a devastating defeat.

Rodgers had one of the best regular seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, posting 45 touchdowns, six interceptions and a league-record passer rating of 122.5.

Dating back to his sensational 2010 postseason, Rodgers was on a roll like few others before him.

But in Green Bay's biggest game of 2011, Rodgers was inexplicably at his worst.

"We all didn't play our best game," Rodgers said. "Personally, I didn't play as well as I . . . I did have a good week of practice; I felt like I was prepared; I missed a couple of throws."